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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29170047">the war is over</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/willowsandwonders/pseuds/willowsandwonders'>willowsandwonders</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Hurt No Comfort, References to Canonical Emotional Manipulation, aka references to the exile arc, cannot stress enough that this is the bad timeline, set during the finale stream</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 11:47:46</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,583</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29170047</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/willowsandwonders/pseuds/willowsandwonders</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>"You look down at the discs in your blood-smeared hands. Tubbo died for these. No. He died for <em>you,</em> and you just stood there and let him."<br/>or, the one where the cavalry arrives two minutes too late</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Toby Smith | Tubbo &amp; TommyInnit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>58</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>the war is over</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>it's been almost two weeks and I still can't stop thinking about the finale stream<br/>PLEASE heed the warnings on this one though, it is not in any way a happy "what-if" so tread with caution in here</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Dream doesn’t drag it out. Somehow it’s worse that way--just one swing of his axe and Tubbo falls down. For a second it feels like nothing. </p>
<p>Clumsy Tubbo, down on the ground, except his arms didn’t shoot out to try and break his fall, and he doesn’t laugh and you don’t either, because Tubbo--</p>
<p>He’s crumpled on the ground, blood pooling out beneath him. </p>
<p>You didn’t say goodbye to him. How could you, when it’s always just been the two of you? (<em>Except for when it wasn’t. When you were in exile all alone--)  </em></p>
<p>There were plenty of times where you thought you would die. But Tubbo? He would never die unless you were dying too. (<em>Except that’s not true either, is it? </em> At the festival you trusted Techno, and you trusted Wil--no, all that matters is that Tubbo died then, and you were there but you couldn’t stop it. And didn’t you <em> swear </em> you’d never let that happen again? Didn’t you always see yourself going down first, beneath that same axe, your blood pouring out from your stupid neck and onto the floor and not <em> his--)  </em></p>
<p>He was standing close to you, just a minute before. You always used to make fun of him for it, how he’d get all up in your space for no reason. Then there started <em> being </em> reasons--safety, shielding each other from weapons and sharp words. Both of you were on your last lives. You always wanted him with you when there was danger. But you wanted him <em> behind you, </em>where that bastard shouldn’t have been able to touch him. </p>
<p>So you stood there close with him, back to Dream even if it made your skin crawl, trying to shield Tubbo from the flat gaze of his mask. Your eyes kept catching on a button out of place on Tubbo’s shirt. Both of you reeked of the smell of gunpowder. </p>
<p>You tried, you <em> begged </em> for Tubbo not to go. Maybe you didn’t see any ways out either, but you could have thought of something. And Tubbo was just <em> accepting </em> it, and you couldn’t convince him that it <em> wasn’t </em> alright, that you felt like the entire world was about to end, and then Dream was calling him over, <em> and-- </em></p>
<p>And Tubbo walked away, with clenched fists and steady steps, and you did not tell him goodbye. Dream said you would regret it. <em> Dream, </em>who just--</p>
<p>He does something to your brain, sometimes. You watched all of that without moving, because if you moved you’d be in trouble and that’s very very bad, but also--but you should’ve gone down with him. You should’ve kicked and punched and fought until he tore you both apart. But you’re still just standing there, frozen.</p>
<p>It’s so quiet in here. The room is dark and cold and empty. Your throat hurts, distantly. You aren’t sure if you screamed. </p>
<p>Dream jerks his head towards the nether portal on the far wall. It’s dark, but you can still make out the blood drip drip dripping off the tip of his axe.</p>
<p>“C’mere, Tommy, let’s go home.” He doesn’t sound like he just killed your best friend. He’s not out of breath, or upset. He sounds perfectly casual. Like he’s just greeting you in passing. Like he’s asking you to take off your armor and toss it in the hole. </p>
<p>You should be afraid. He’s going to lock you away, and it’ll be ten thousand times worse than exile, and Dream will never let you wriggle out from under this thumb twice. It’ll be the end.</p>
<p>Except the end has already happened, hasn’t it? You thought it did, after Wilbur hit the button, and when he--and you thought it ended when you were staring down at the ground from too high up, and when your ears were ringing from the continuous blasts of tnt raining from the sky and the reality-scratching screams of withers. </p>
<p>But this is it, for real this time. You are staring at Dream, armorless and weaponless, and Tubbo’s body is crumpled on the ground beneath the two of you. It was you and Tubbo against Dream, and you did not walk out the winner. </p>
<p>What did Tubbo say this was? <em> Checkmate</em>. You always fucking hated chess.</p>
<p>That’s when the portal ripples and twists, and an army steps out from the other side. </p>
<p>A lot of things happen at once. People are talking, and shouting, and crowding forward, and Dream is--</p>
<p>Dream is backing away. He’s cornered. It’s your turn to take all of Dream’s things away. You take the Axe of Peace from the wall and grip its handle so hard your knuckles turn white. Enchantments glitter across the vicious blade. </p>
<p>You asked Tubbo what you’d be without him. And Tubbo said you’d just be yourself, but--</p>
<p>You’re not sure that “yourself” is a very good person.</p>
<p>So you kill Dream once. No one stops you. You kill him twice. And then you lift up the axe again, and Dream starts to get…scared?</p>
<p>Tubbo wasn’t scared. You knew him well enough to tell. He was scared in the final control room. He was scared at the festival. But you watched him walk up to Dream and--you don’t know why he wasn’t scared. </p>
<p>Was Wilbur scared? Are <em> you </em>scared? </p>
<p>“Tommy, Tommy, <em>listen,” </em>Dream is saying, “you don’t understand, I got a book from Schlatt--” And there he goes again, with all his bloody <em>words, </em>trying to make you do what he wants you to do and squash you down like a little bug until you behave and you’re <em>sick of it </em>you are so fucking <em>sick to death of it--</em></p>
<p>“I don’t fucking care what you have to say,” you spit, and the axe swings down. </p>
<p>You kind of expected to feel something, when you watched his body bleed out for the final time. Relief. Sadness. Maybe even justice, not just for Tubbo, but for you, and for everyone else. But if there’s any feeling deep in your chest, it’s out of your reach. </p>
<p>You think someone might be screaming, but all the noise is too distant for you to hear. You turn back to look at everyone. The axe slides from your hand and clatters to the floor and they all stare at you. There’s tacky splatters of blood already drying on your hands. </p>
<p>Punz is holding back Sapnap. He’s just lost a best friend too, but you don’t care. You’re not sure if you’re ever going to care about anything ever again. </p>
<p>It starts to hit you then, the first waves before the tsunami. There are so many people here. There is an <em> army </em> here, and you’re the one who called them. You took a gamble with Punz, and it <em> worked, it worked, </em>there are so many people here, most of them in netherite. </p>
<p><em> They really could have stopped him, </em>you realize, and it hurts like a burning wound. Just a couple minutes sooner and…</p>
<p>Without you noticing, Dream had become this…this <em> thing </em>that lived in your head and bled into your nightmares whenever you managed to sleep. Even with all the confidence you forced yourself to have, you could never really picture him dying. But now he’s dead at your feet, and you are still here.</p>
<p>And somewhere behind you, behind the crowd of people that just watched you become a murderer, Tubbo’s body is cooling on the stone. </p>
<p>For a second, you feel just like Wilbur. Which is fucking <em> weird, </em> because really you do your best to not let your brain bring him up. Except, thinking about him now, you suddenly <em> get it, </em> in a way that you never fucking wanted to. What it’s like to stare out at a crowd of people, people that <em> followed you, </em>and to know that you have lost everything that ever mattered. You taste ash on the tip of your tongue, and feel sick to your stomach. </p>
<p>You really need to pull yourself together. </p>
<p>Tubbo’s words from up on the obsidian walls enter your mind, unbidden, <em> “If I can’t be the next Schlatt, you can’t be the next Wilbur.” </em> You think that if you’re going to start hearing Tubbo’s voice in your head <em> already, </em>he may as well have the decency to say nice things instead. Have a little pity on the guy who’s just lost everything. </p>
<p>Well, you haven’t lost <em> everything </em>yet. </p>
<p>You stagger away from Dream’s body. The crowd lets you pass, which is smart, and you walk up to the freaky fucking alters Dream built for both of your discs. </p>
<p><em> Cat and Mellohi. </em> You remember the first days after you got them, when everything was fun and you could play them in the jukebox while you worked on your base and yelled at Tubbo for just lazing around on the bench. And you didn’t have to worry about someone running up and stealing the discs, and people might come hassle you and Tubbo but they’d never <em> kill </em> you, and--And all kinds of other memories you shouldn’t bother dwelling on, because those times are <em> over. </em>They’re through. </p>
<p>You look down at the discs in your blood-smeared hands. Tubbo died for these. No. He died for <em> you, </em>and you just stood there and let him. </p>
<p>You snap them both in half. The pieces slip through your fingers and clatter onto the floor. You think someone might be saying something, but the world is very far away. </p>
<p>The war is over, and you have lost.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>man. but thank you for reading!! and an extra thank you to my friends who read this over for me, gave me advice on how to clean it up, and told me to go fuck myself. I don't usually write full on brutal angst like this so even if it was hard to write I also enjoyed the challenge<br/>if anything in particular caught your eye, feel free to drop a comment! either way, thanks again for reading</p></blockquote></div></div>
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